Facebook adds 60 new apps for Timeline

Facebook has just made its Open Graph platform more open for business.

Facebook launched the platform last September and its 800 million members are already familiar with how they or their friends can instantly share songs they’re listening to on Spotify or news stories they’re reading through the Washington Post.

But Facebook is expanding the universe of available Timeline apps beyond music, news and video to include apps for sharing favorite restaurants, travel spots, movies, online deals and more.

At a press conference this afternoon in San Francisco, Facebook announced it had opened up the next stage of the Open Graph system to include 60 new third-party companies that have developed apps for Timeline, including eBay, Foodspotting, Rotten Tomatoes, StubHub, Airbnb, Gogobot and Pinterest.

If a Facebook member choses, each app shows up as a module on their Timeline that gives a summary of recent shared activities.

The Foodspotting app, for example, will display photos of dishes and food reviews the member has shared. Instead of just a “like” button, Foodspotting users can select “want it” or “nom it.”

The Timeline feature, recently rolled out to the general Facebook population, is designed as a way for members to express themselves online. The 60 new apps are supposed to be just the first wave of Timeline apps that will cover a gamut of activities that Facebook hopes will be shared.

“We always said you are more than just your status updates and photos,” said Facebook spokesman David Swain.

The Timeline apps could be a boon for businesses who want to reach the Facebook audience through shared activities.

“This is going to be the biggest catalyst for pushing social commerce,” said Payvment Inc. CEO and founder Christian Taylor. “This is really going to turbo charge product discovery on Facebook. It’s going to do for shopping what Spotify has done for music.”

Taylor’s Palo Alto company has an online shopping mall on Facebook and has already added “I Want This” and “I Own This” buttons.”

Payvment Inc.

Those buttons take the power of the already familiar “Like” and “Share” buttons to a higher level, letting Facebook members share what they are doing in a more fine-tuned way.

For example, Payvment’s “want” and “own” buttons can be used to create a gift wish list that their friends can see.

“I can see what my wife wants for her birthday,” Taylor said.

Payvment Inc.

Facebook got into hot water in 2007 with an advertising program called Beacon, which automatically broadcast on the social network what a person was buying online. The resulting firestorm of protests eventually caused Facebook to drop Beacon.

The new Open Graph system is opt-in, giving members control over what they share, although there is still criticism that many members may not realize just how much of their online habits they are broadcasting.